Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Public v. Private

DS6 is gifted and has dyslexia, dyspraxia and dysgraphia. He is in a Montessori kindergarten. We are trying to figure out what to do for first grade.

Option 1 - Stay at Same Private School
Next year he would be in a 1st - 6th classroom. It is affordable and convenient. It is familiar (DS would know some kids and teachers). The curriculum is spotty. They seem unwilling to consistently provide accomodations.

Option 2 - Give Public School a Try

We would be putting him into the district where I work. It is a bit better than where we live. It is free. I talked to a school administrator about him. She said to come in about eight weeks from the end of the spring semester and bring them his private evaluations. Although it was a short conversation, the person was pleasant enough.

Option 3 - Different private school

Good reputation, pricey, 1st - 6th grade. Might be more flexible regarding accomodations. Claim to be able to handle gifted kids.

DS is not an academic hard charger. At school he likes friends, lunch, recess, class parties and field trips. In his free time he enjoys audiobooks, documentaries, pretend play, science kits and playing outside.

Thoughts?

It sounds like the reasons for considering a school move are spotty curriculum and inconsistency in providing accommodations? You may wish to focus on these things when looking at the other schools.

Option 2: Are parents able to make a placement at the public school you like? (Placement is not precluded by a wait list, lottery, cutoff date by which to register intent to enroll, etc?)

Option 3: "Might be more flexible regarding accommodations..." MIGHT is a mighty big word. You may wish to ask about accommodations ahead of time such as on a school tour. A pricey school being able to "handle" gifted kids may not mean meeting gifted/2e academic needs and accommodations.

Based on the information in your post it sounds like ds' interests and learning style are a good fit with Montessori.

It is great to be prepared with lists of questions to compare each potential school. The questions to ask when seeking information that will help predict a good educational fit may be different for each family. In general, when selecting a school parents may want to ask about:
1) anything that you have been trying to put in place in your children's current learning environment,
2) details for anything described on the potential new school's website,
3) anything mentioned or observed during the school tour.

A parent may wish to consider their children's current learning experience and ask questions that would help them compare/contrast how the students' learning experience in the new school would be the same/different from what they have now. For example: How are children grouped for instruction? Would it be easier to advocate for having the child's needs met at the new school?

There are more ideas in the book "A Parent's Guide to Gifted Children", which has Chapter 14 dedicated to "Finding a Good Educational Fit".

There are lists of considerations and questions for choosing a school found online at Davidson database, greatschools website, and other websearch results.

Good luck with this.

I joined these boards in August 2011 with a thread entitled something like "Public with IEP or Private". A search may bring it up along with a ton of input from many experienced members. I have often wondered if we made the right choice when dealing with some of the difficulties with personnel at the public. I think the private would have been much better for the giftedness but the LD issues would not have been properly addressed, at least without crippling out of pocket expenses. The common wisdom among 2e parents here is that the early grades really tend to focus more on the other "e". Focus on the giftedness seems to start in late 4th to 5th grade, or so the voices of wisdom have told me.

My DD received a ton of spec Ed supports from the public that we would have had to pay for out of pocket if we had gone to the private. (Our district provides minimal consultation support to kids at privates located within their borders but the private we were looking at was located in a district that would have done nothing for her.) Entering 1st you will probably still be working on getting a handle on the extent of his disabilities. FAPE, IDEA, LRE, IEPs, etc can all be your friends if you go public. Privates are not required to accomodate. There have also been parents here who have reported getting stuck with high tuition bills even when it's been clear the prIvate can't or won't meet the child's needs.

So all that being said - and I now consider myself one of those voices of experience - I would probably go with the public and keep a very close eye on the situation. Get all you can in terms evaluations, services, accomodations differentiation, etc. See what is working and what is not. If you feel you have a handle on the LD situation you can then approach the privates later, IEP in hand, and ask specific questions about their ability to meet his needs.

DD is now in an out of district placement getting both E's addressed. As much as I loved the private I now realize it probably would not have worked for her LD issues. As much anguish as we went through with public I understand it was the only way to get her situation properly addressed. I can't remember if your DS has the same extreme variations in scores as my DD so you may have more flexibility but this was our experience.

Good luck!

There is a four SD spread between VCI and PSI/WMI and a three SD spread between PRI and PSI/WMI.

By the time he enters first grade he will have had two years of OT which includes Handwriting Without Tears. We are considering an intense summer session of reading intervention with Lindamood Bell. We are also doing Toe by Toe (a phonics book) at home.

He is making a lot of progress in reading and is one of the top readers in his kindergarten class. He still struggles with writing. He can make properly formed letters in a handwriting exercise but when he goes to do the "On the field trip I ....." writing assignments, he struggles with all aspects of it. His words are misspelled, the letters are reversed and/or inverted, and the few words he uses are poorly spaced. I understand that he is a kindergartener but keep in mind this is his second year of kindergarten. He was early entranced and then held back because he was having trouble getting work done.

I think the private school he is at now struggles with balancing his needs with those of the other students. He is more work. They don't think it is fair to give him more of their time than the other students. I totally understand this. Other parents are paying tuition too and for one kid to get more one on one than the others probably isn't fair in a private school. I have suggested ways to modify assignments. They don't seem to want to because they either don't see the need or think it is unfair to the other students that he get special work. This is for either e. They are not bad people. They are just running a business and I get that. The main accommodation he gets is that he gets to bring home unfinished work.

Part of me wants to try the public school because if it works then we aren't out all the money on the private schools. We have good incomes but I could certainly think of something else to do with the $120,000 we'd be spending on elementary school education.

Lots of things to consider...

Can you give me examples of the suggestions you made abut modifying assignments? My son is apparently having much trouble getting work done... He works very slow (he also has dysgraphia and dyspraxia). (he does get a scribe and access to computer but that stuff in a way adds to the slowness). Ideas of modifying the actual assignments I think may be the way to go to a certain extent but I can't think of how that is done? So just wondering what were your ideas suggestions?

Sorry that I don't have advice and sorry I am derailing a bit.

ETA - just noticed one is to b"ring home unfinished work"... I wonder if that would end up being too much on my DS I could see them backing off more on accommodations and just sending it home resulting in hours of work at night. But it's a thought.

Here is an example (former ESE teacher talking)

Instead of write your spelling words 10 times each...pretest and only work on the ones he doesn't know...also practice using backwards chaining. Say the word is chain.

*Chain
Chai_
Cha_ _
Ch_ _ _
C_ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _
You study the word and then cover it with an index card...fill in the blank on the next line and always check your work with the original word. Study cover the top two lines. Fill in two letters...check with original. Repeat steps.

Doesn't take that long to make backwards chaining worksheets...but we always did them on the computer (making font size big so the kids could fit their letter on the line) so we always had them from year to year. If you know the words you could make them for the teacher.

Modify amount of problems....so if there are 20 math problems, assign odds and then if he has extra time start back up at the top with the evens...teacher grades number correct divided by number attempted no penalty for blanks...with the idea that the child works diligently and isn't taking advantage of having less assigned.

Let me know if you want more ideas.

One idea I had for math facts: Instead of the teacher going through a deck of flash cards with him or a modified test or a standard test with more time, let him sort the deck by sums into odd and even piles. No writing required

I am not sure how that would work in a regular classroom. In his Montessori it is normal for a kid to work on something at their desk and the teacher to stop by and grade it/review it on the spot.

What I have seen with 3 of DS's friends who are 2E is that all of them chose private schools - but were very particular about low teacher:student ratios. These parents thought that the most important factor was the ratio because it let their kids get more attention from their teacher as well as more accomodations.
All 3 of them are thriving - 2 of them in classical education schools (interestingly, one of these schools segregates boys and girls into different classes and teaches them differently because their learning styles are different) and one in a montessori school.
I have come to believe - from observing these kids - that having a smaller number of kids in the classroom allows for more accomodation for any special needs (this includes giftedness, 2E etc) and the child does much better than in a class with 31 kids.
So, that might be a factor to consider.

Yes! Some parents create a spread sheet with the different factors to consider, questions, or information they are trying to evaluate for each school. They may not end up gathering the same pieces of information for every school but many find it makes a quick way to organize and compare the various factors, as well as providing a personal checklist to expand upon if another school placement may be sought in the future.

I am feeling more optimistic about staying with the same private school.

DH had a meeting with the teachers DS would have next year and it went really well. They understand that teaching him will require a different approach and seem ready to adapt.

So this is the plan:

1. DS to start after school science enrichment with one of the teachers next month.

2. OT to continue in current K class until May but will make recommendations to next level teachers before summer.

3. DS attend summer school in new classroom.

4. DS attend Lindamood Bell over the summer. (Morning at school and afternoon at LB)

5. Post remediation follow up with Eides over the summer.

6. Phone conference with new teachers, us and Eides before start of fall semester to discuss new test results, recommendations and accommodations.

Thoughts?

KJP, looks like you have made a decision that would work. I just wanted to say that I have agonized over this same public vs private debate. Dd is only 4 and will go to K this sep. IMO, the small class size and the mixed age classroom that private offers really make a ton of difference. Like your ds, dd loves only all the non academic aspects of school. But she is absorbing a lot just by being around older kids and from having the freedom to explore and work at her level. All the best with your decision.